Mr. Noel Gavigan:

Last year, the 40by30 report published by Renewable Energy Ireland identified that as much as 39% of Ireland's heat demand can be met with biogas, solid biomass, and liquid biofuels.

The report further identified that Ireland could completely decarbonise its heating needs with existing indigenous resources. The challenge, however, is to mobilise those sources and direct them to their most suitable use. Last year we commissioned MaREI to conduct a report entitled Transport in Ireland: A Pathway to Halving Emissions. It demonstrates that Ireland could achieve a 51% reduction in transport emissions using a combination of electric vehicles, biomethane in particular, bioliquids and some efficiency measures.

In terms of climate change, biodiversity and sustainability, particularly with regard to what anaerobic digestion and biogas can contribution, these are low carbon and sustainable alternatives to fossil gas when produced in line with the renewable energy directive and its criteria, which is important. These are most suited to replace fossil gas in industrial heating, dispatchable electricity generation and transport fuels. Digestate from biogas production, which has already been mentioned, will reduce the need for chemical fertiliser, particularly when it is used in a circular economy scenario of recycling food waste and waste from brown bins. It has already been identified that we are doing only a small proportion of that. We can recover those valuable nutrients back to agriculture and the energy from the same material.

Digestion and digestate can be used to manage on-farm waste such as slurry and farmyard manure, allowing farms to efficiently recycle their own nutrients, as well as producing some energy on-site. That is something we are championing through the small biogas demonstration programme on-farm. On-farm digestion offers an in-house method for farms to decarbonise an operation while maintaining current food production, which is an important criterion. Where a farm opts to produce grass for use in a biogas plant, the farm is displacing a certain level of livestock production, thus reducing emissions from livestock and contributing directly to decarbonisation of our energy system. It is important that a biogas industry based on grass would not lead to direct competition in feedstock with the dairy sector, driving up costs for both sectors.

On policy discussion points, with regard to public perception, there is a need with any new development for public awareness of technology. We can see European examples of biogas plants located next to residential areas in villages with no issues arising. In Ireland, we have seen some biogas plants welcomed by the public and others meeting sustained objection based on local opposition. There is a need for local government to better understand the benefits of biogas and be able to support positive developments of these vital technologies.

It is not feasible to consider replacing the entire supply of fossil gas with renewable gases at this point or in the near future. Long-term policy must consider conserving the renewable gas we produce for specialist tasks like dispatchable power generation, transport fuel and high-end heat uses. It is therefore imperative that we decarbonise our gas supply as much as possible and consider reducing gas usage by displacing it with other low-carbon and renewable options, such as solid biomass heating and district heating for the domestic sector.

Current policy measures, such as the support scheme for renewable heat, provides incentives for solid biomass and biogas. However, this support scheme must be grown and expanded to assist with meeting 2030 decarbonisation targets. The biofuels obligation scheme was set up in 2010 and to date it has provided the largest portion of decarbonised transport in the State. This scheme should be expanded as a successful project to ensure that renewable gas-powered vehicles are encouraged and deployed, particularly for heavy goods vehicle and bus fleets where direct decarbonisation options are often quite limited. Biogas and biomethane provide an excellent opportunity in this respect.

Planned policy measures like the proposed renewable heat obligation must be put in place immediately. We encourage rapid transition from fossil fuels to indigenously produced renewable fuels and we encourage the committee to progress and encourage the launch of this obligation. We thank the committee for the opportunity to present today and look forward to answering any questions the committee might have.